Ballet School at the Media Club

Being just in time for a show can have benefits. Walking into the sparsely populated Media Club moments before adopted Berliners, Ballet School, started playing you only have a few moments to judge the high-waisted, horizontal-stripped shirts, and Blundstone wearing young’ens. Like, come on, how could “the kids these days” possibly know about a band like this? Because this band is good, really good.

Frontwoman and Belfast native Rosie Blair took the stage with striking white blonde hair flanked by a vampire playing guitar and fresh faced drummer who smiled through the entire set. These guys have the 80’s vibe down pat.

Ballet School at the Media Club. Photo: Allison Kuhl.

Ballet School at the Media Club. Photo: Allison Kuhl.

The opening track appeared to be a short workout for Rosie’s vocal folds, climbing to the stratosphere and back with an improv-art-jazz ease and feel. Sufficiently drawing the crowd in with a friendly “come here, I don’t bite” hand gesture, the makings of a noteworthy performance unfolded gorgeously. Jazzy and slightly pitchy “Lux” juxtaposed adorably with “click-bate” poised mash-up cover of Madonna’s “Justify My Love” and Beyonce’s “Partition.” Rosie mused with the crowd, “this next song is a Beyonce cover…as a joke…actually totally serious.” In reality, the song was the climax of the show, intimate and sexy. Steamy even. Insert blushing smiley-face emoticon here.

The band made its way through almost all of the tracks off of their newest album The Dew Lasts An Hour in under, well, an hour. It was a short set. Had they not finished up with “Cherish,” an Edie Brickell-meets-Deftones track, we would have left unsatisfied. Thankfully, the punk lust beat and strikingly reverb heavy guitar had the crowd moving gleefully and self-consciously swinging hips, tapping toes, bopping hairdos.

Don’t be surprised to see these talented musicians touring festivals and creating futuristic 80’s pop-rock for years to come. The future is now.

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